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However a few weeks after the bleaching the hard corals looked like they had been dead for years and the flesh of animals was decomposing and dripping off the reef structure, he said.

Last week the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority said overall mortality of the reef was 22 per cent, with about 85 per cent of the die-off occurring on the far north between the tip of Cape York and just north of Lizard Island.

Chairman Dr Russell Reichelt said the Great Barrier Reef was still resilient with the ability to recover from major events.